All AboutContributions

Your employer will tell you whether you are eligible to join and what contributions you and your employer will pay.

You don’t have to join, but you should think about the benefits you will be giving up if you don’t.

The Government encourages you to save for your retirement through tax relief. Use our Cost Calculator.

Your employer will deduct the contributions from your salary through the payroll.

It depends on what level of savings you need for your retirement and when you are planning to retire.

The more you pay in, the bigger pot of savings you are likely to have at retirement.

Use our Compare Your Options tool to see how much you need to save to give you the best chance of having the funds you need for retirement. You can include any other pensions savings or just use it for future contributions.

If you have been auto enrolled, you can opt out and receive a full refund of the contribution you have paid (less tax) providing the opt out notice is received by your HR/Payroll team within the timescales set out in the notification letter from your employer.

You can opt out later and leave your contributions invested. Whether you will be allowed to re-join will depend on your employer – it is best to talk to them first before opting out.

Remember, if you opt out and your employer will not let you join again in the future on the same terms, you are giving up the benefit of their contributions to help you save for retirement. It is not a decision to take lightly.

If you are auto enrolled and opt out, you will be automatically re-enrolled approximately every three years.

If you pay tax on your earnings,the Government gives you tax relief on your contributions to the Cheviot pension which means they cost you less. If you don't pay tax, the Cheviot pension may not be right for you.

The tax relief on contributions, the Annual Allowance, is limited to £40,000 although a lower limit of £10,000 may apply if you have already started accessing your pension savings (by taking a taxable lump sum for example).

The Annual Allowance applies across all your schemes and includes contributions made by you and your employer.

The Lifetime Allowance is a limit on the amount you can save in a pension without triggering an extra tax charge. It is currently £1m for the tax year 2017/18.

If your total pension savings exceed the Lifetime Allowance, you will be charged additional tax.